Bad review…

So, I had the first bad review of my fantasy book. One and a half stars.
According to this reviewer I don’t have an own writing style, my characters are shallow and my book is like a sticky sandwich.

Ouch!

I am not going to lie to you, that hurts!
When you write, you put your heart and soul into your work. And when someone crushes it like this, it feels like a blow to the chest.

Now, I really don’t have anything to complain about because besides this one, I only have gotten some very good reviews and the sales are going very well considering I am a debut writer. But still…

It hurts. And now there is a bad review of my book on the internet. On a well known fantasy site. That just sucks.

I looked up the person who wrote the review because I wanted to know who she was. Turns out she is a young lady who writes herself. Her first book will be published soon by the publishing company I turned down because I didn’t feel like we were a good match.

This information made me wonder…
So this girl is a writer herself. That means that she must know how much a writer puts into her books. How in the world can she be so harsh then?
Don’t get me wrong, of course everyone has a right to their own opinion and a writer can only grow because of feedback even if it’s not good feedback. But why use phrases like ‘a sticky sandwich’. What’s the purpose of that? What am I suppose to learn from that? That she is just not a nice person?

And then I looked a bit closer at this review. So I don’t have a own writing style huh? Besides the fact that I made up a entire non existing language for my book and the fact that there is no other writer (that I know of) who writes the way I do then!

When I layed her review next to the other ones I’ve gotten so far, it became clear to on me that all her negative points were the exact opposite of what the other reviews said about my story and the characters. 

I know very well that as a writer you have to deal with bad reviews. It’s part of the job, you can’t please everyone.
But does it really has to on be like that?

I guess so. But I don’t agree. I rather would have people saying that they don’t like my book but explain why and what I could do to improve my future writing than just writing a nasty review that can make them feel like a expert and a critic.

Because for people like that, I feel nothing but pity.

So don’t try to stress too much about bad reviews guys. There will Always be people who just love to bring someone else down.

Keep writing what you want and how you want.

Lots of love,

Patty